In the never-ending flux of the economy, new kinds of jobs are constantly being created, while the demand for others abates. This presents a difficult problem to workers who need to match their abilities and interests with the changing occupational choices that confront them. The changing job market gives rise to such questions as the following: What fields look promising for employment opportunities? What education and training are required to undertake particular jobs? How do earnings in certain occupations compare with earnings in other occupations that require similar training? What types of employers provide which kinds of jobs? Does employment in a particular job mean steady, year-round work, or is the job seasonal or affected by minor swings in economic activity?
The answer to these questions change as the economy changes and expands. New goods, services, improved methods of production and changes in living standards, life styles and government policies are continually affecting the job market. This section explores the changes in our industrial and economic pattern and how they affect the employment situation as regards specific occupations. It discusses the implications of these changes for career education, vocational training, the experience needed and job characteristics.
The following groups of workers in the labor force will, in the immediate future, be most affected by the changes in the economy and the resulting changes in job requirements: black workers, younger workers and women.
Nonwhite workers are concentrated disproportionately in less-skilled occupations that have higher-than-average unemployment rates. The need for these occupations is not expected to grow as rapidly as the need for more-skilled occupations. If nonwhites do not gain access to white-collar and skilled jobs at a faster rate than heretofore, they will continue to have serious unemployment problems.
Young workers, another group that is experiencing high unemployment, are also part of the slower-growing, less-skilled occupations. The number of young workers will increase more rapidly in the next decade than the labor force as a whole. To deal with the problem of high unemployment among the young, industry may have to lower the minimum hiring age in certain occupations, use younger workers as aides or assistants to the mature and experienced workers or promote young workers at a faster rate to more-skilled jobs.
Women are concentrated in the rapidly growing white-collar occupations. If their share of jobs in various occupations remains unchanged, their employment problems will be no more serious than those they now have. However, men are seriously and increasingly competing for some of the occupations that were traditionally held by women. Among these are teaching, social work, library work and similar white-collar jobs. If this trend continues, more women workers may have to seek employment in other fields.
Our current technologically oriented society generates technological changes that strongly affect occupational requirements. However, many factors other than technological developments influence the employment situation in specific occupations. These factors include the different rate of employment growth among different industries, population rise and fall, government expenditures and institutional changes. Technology is inextricably interwoven with these factors and its impact cannot be separated from them.
One of the major manifestations of occupational changes is the growth in population and its changing age distribution. A rapid increase in population can bring a sharp rise in the demand for goods and services and result in more employment in industry. As the population grows there is a concomitant increase in production of such items as food, clothing, housing-also leading to more employment. A growing population will also require more services and a rise in the demand for such workers as barbers, cosmetologists, lawyers, bankers and doctors. And with an increase in urbanization, there is need for more state and local government employees, including such workers as firemen and policemen.
The changes in age distribution also play a major role in influencing the occupations that are available. A greater number of teachers, for example, is needed for the increase in the number of school-age children. Similarly, the increase in the number of older persons results in greater demand for medical and paramedical personnel.
Government policy as regards federal, state and local expenditures plays a significant role in determining the occupational employment composition. Expenditures for education, for example, generate the need for more teachers, as well as for construction workers, and still other personnel to maintain and administer schools. Occupations such as social work, medicine, nursing, and highway engineering are also affected by the extent and direction of government spending.
The varying rates of employment growth among different industries are among the most important elements that determine occupational distribution in the United States. As an example, we can note that the growth in white-collar workers is the result of the more-than-average growth in industries that need them. Among these industries are state and local government, finance, insurance, real estate and business and professional services. A much slower rate of growth prevails in such industries as mining, manufacturing and transportation, which employ fewer white-collar workers. The recent rise in employment in the manufacturing and construction industries is a manifestation of growth in the national economy. As a corollary to this growth in the manufacturing and construction industries, there has been for half a decade a sharp downward trend for blue-collar workers,
Collective bargaining and the relationship between labor and management are part of the occupational pattern of industry. In the railroad, shipping and news paper industries, unions have encouraged the maintenance of occupational skills. And union-management decisions are likely to have a marked effect on the occupational pattern of the economy as a whole. Scarcities and surpluses also affect occupations.
They provide management with the opportunity to maneuver jobs to match, to some degree, the available supply of workers. As an example, when engineers are in short supply, additional technicians are hired to perform certain routine engineering jobs. In other in stances, a production process may be adjusted to employ a combination of labor skills that are different from those in short supply.
